Boys of Thunder and Magic
by EggOnYourFace
Summary: "We received word of an off world threat; I need you to neutralise it." Loki wasn't expecting that. "Well that's nice; and the other Asgardian you have in your Fantasy Football league who actually likes you won't do it because...?" "Because Thor is the threat," Fury said, plainly.
1. Part 1a - Bump on the Noggin

**Hi fellas, this story was based on a meme request which I've picked up from LiveJournal and I've now moved to here - basically, Thor, Loki, Pepper Potts and Clint Barton are just awesome people doing awesome things. With feelings! Ooft, all the feelings. Enjoy!**

* * *

It started when Thor cracked his skull falling from his pony. Frigga fussed, Odin fretted and Loki sat on his brother's legs, staring at his sleeping face, wrapped so tightly in swathes of bandages. The ten year old couldn't believe how small his big brother appeared, how pale his skin looked when the blond hair was hidden away. Frigga tried to take Loki off the bed, but Thor would shift and turn restlessly and Loki would simply become a dead weight. Odin waved his wife away from their children. He saw how it would cause more grief than good to separate them, and it wasn't as though they could cause any mischief right _now_ anyway. Loki heard the door close behind them and grinned as Thor crack open an eye.

"Have they gone?" He asked, a small slur all the evidence of a heavy concussion.

"Yeah, I heard father talk to the guard, apparently he's supposed to wake him as soon as he hears talking, laughing, magic making or anything other than you snoring. I don't think he trusts us for some reason." Loki shuffled to Thor's side, allowing him to sit up slightly, wincing as he did so. "You know you're a pillock, right?" Loki said as he carefully moved a pillow to rest against his brother's head.

"I was only trying to copy what you were doing," Thor said and fell back on the pillow with a sigh. "How did you make your horse do all those jumps anyway?"

"I guess I'm just better than you – not just horse riding, at _everything_. It's a curse, I sometimes don't think I can live with myself," Loki said and melodramatically held his hand against his forehead, falling daintily into Thor's lap, who had to stifle a giggle for fear of alerting the guard.

"You used magic, didn't you?" Thor asked, though it wasn't really a question.

"Well, yes. Want to see some more?" Loki said with a glint in his eyes. Thor nodded and grimaced at the movement, but was soon distracted by Loki's look of fierce concentration as colours and shapes formed in his hands and spread out across the room. The story Odin had told them of the beginning of the world danced across the walls as Thor drank in the emotions Loki was learning to put into his projections. He sat entranced until he heard Loki's laboured breath and looked to his brother, still in his lap, shining with sweat with the effort of entertaining him. Thor gently touched his arm and the images flickered as Loki glanced at him inquiringly.

"Show me the rest tomorrow night, I'm too groggy to see straight and I don't want to miss anything," he said. Loki saw through his lie immediately, but was grateful nonetheless for his brother's rare display of tact. He banished the images around their heads and curled up next to Thor, yawning sleepily. Thor smiled, drew Loki closer and settled himself more comfortably.

"Goodnight, idiot," Loki said from under his arm.

"Goodnight, freak," Thor said, waving away the lights as he drifted back to sleep.

Loki was allowed to stay the following day and night, as Thor was recovering so much quicker than the Head Healer thought he would with him around. It was only when every table had mysteriously turned into a chicken did Frigga eventually put her foot down and separated the two. They had become as thick as thieves which, despite the warmth in her heart, made her dread what would become of the furniture.

* * *

Though they had been friends before, they were inseparable when Thor recovered. The years of their childhood seemed to be spent in an endless summer. When Thor heard his friends tease Loki for his gracelessness at sword fighting, Thor showed him how to handle daggers and throwing knives. When Loki noticed Thor look jealously on at his magical prowess, Loki taught Thor to shoot lightning from his fingertips. When Loki was caught turning the Head of Council's toupee into a live rabbit, Thor charmed him into total forgiveness. When Thor destroyed the statue of Yggdrasil with an ill timed lightning bolt, Loki learned how to magically mend stone.

And whenever Thor or Loki were injured or sick, the other would not leave their side, even if it was for days at a time. This was frowned upon, as boys with magic and thunder in their veins are rarely called upon for their healing powers. After the Head Healer's bed had been turned into a sheep, she stopped trying to part them herself and turned to Odin for help. He tried reasoning with them, but gave up when he saw how they'd given each other the giggles and realised his frank talk about their duties as princes had fallen on deaf ears. He didn't want them to think their disobedience was acceptable, but he could privately admit to Frigga that it did him the world of good to walk past their rooms and hear Thor's laughter, sense Loki's crackle of magic.

Only once, when Thor had an almighty 'flu, Frigga barred Loki from entering Thor's room. He looked up at her as she physically blocked his path, Thor sneezing loudly on the other side of door.

"No means no, young man."

"But what if he shoots himself with lightning? Everyone else would just panic, he needs someone to really _laugh_ at him," he said, his whine kept to an artful minimum, his eyes knowingly wide. Frigga raised an eyebrow and stifled a small smile.

"That look hasn't worked on me for two years Loki and you know it. Look, he's incredibly infectious, you'll just become sick as well and if you think for one moment I'm subjecting this household to _that_ particular fate, you can think again." Astra, a young healer who hadn't learned to fear the sight of Thor and Loki together when one of them was ordered bedrest, appeared at Frigga's elbow.

"If you please Your Highness, I've finished giving the Prince his medicine; he should be able to sleep now." She curtsied to Frigga and hurried away. The Queen turned and, producing a key from the ether, closed Thor's door, locking it tightly.

"I'm not having you sick as well Loki, this is for both your sakes," She said kindly as Loki looked down. At first, Frigga tentatively thought she had won, but the shake of his shoulders from suppressed laughter made her instantly, deeply suspicious. "Loki, what've you done now?"

"I've not done anything mother; in fact, I wasn't even here," he said and, snatching the key from her hand, melted away into nothing. Frigga groaned as she heard Thor and Loki's woops of triumph from the other side of the door.

Later, when Loki was running a massive fever and clutching his head to steady his dizziness, Frigga allowed herself a smug smile.

"Tell me Loki, was defying your mother worth this?" She said as she folded her arms above him. Thor, sat cross legged at the foot of the bed, looked up from his book as Loki lazily shot her a wicked grin.

"Always, mother dearest. Always."


	2. Part 1b - Breathing Under Water

**"Ahh, what an awesome show/book/movie, and what a great character! SHOW ME THEIR BLOOD." - 99% of fanfiction, right there.**

* * *

When training and sparring overtook time spent on pranks and mischief, Thor heard Loki cough. He thought nothing of it, but noted that it wasn't like his normal cough. Three weeks later, Loki was still coughing, each bout slightly deeper and harsher than the last. After they'd finished weapons practice with their friends, Loki coughed a deathly, wheezing rattle and it took minutes for him to regain his composure. "You don't look well, Silvertounge, everything alright?" Sif said as she idly sharpened her blade.

"I'm fine, just a chest cold," he said as he sheathed his knives and put his coat on over his sparring clothes. Thor studied him from across the training yard; though Loki had long ago learned to hide his true self under a well worn façade of cynicism and charm, Thor could see a line of sweat on his brow which had little to do with their training session. He only hoped that Loki would shake it off before the hunt in four days time; though he claimed to be over such frivolities, Thor knew he brother well enough that it would kill him to miss a second of it.

The days had passed and Loki still hid his sickness under his magic. Bags packed and his friends waiting, Thor idled with his horse's reigns, stalling for time until Loki would _finally_ come down and leave with them. Volstagg groaned in the frustration.

"Come _on_ Thor, he said he wanted to sit this one out so why are we still here? We're missing the pre-feast for the welcome feast!" He said, stomach growling. Thor smirked and stole one last glance at Loki's balcony. On cue, Loki swaggered towards the five friends, but Thor saw that it was a clone and nothing more.

"So you're not coming then brother?" Thor said, careful to keep the disappointment from his voice.

"And miss all the glorious attention I'll receive once you've gone? With Astra fretting as though every breath is my last? Foolish Thor, foolish." The clone smiled brightly and waved to the warriors already mounted. "Hunt well friends, try and see that Hogun doesn't burn down the _rest_ of Vanaheim this time." They laughed and, with final goodbyes, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif galloped towards their next adventure.

"Do you not want me to stay with you? I don't think I like the thought of you cooped up alone in there," Thor said, forgetting himself enough to try and hold the clone's arm, stumbling as he lurched straight through it. It flickered and laughed lightly, but rasped in a cough much worse than Thor had heard that week. The clone gathered itself and raised an eyebrow as though the last few moments had not happened.

"I think we're a bit old for that now, aren't we? You don't need me to sit on your legs when you shock yourself, I don't need you sulking over a missed hunt when I'm trying to defeat this wretched cold." The clone flickered again and gestured Thor toward the Bifrost. "Go on, have fun before I decide you look better in a dress than a cloak." Thor felt magic tingle around the hem of his tunic and laughed as he backed away.

"Well in that case, I'll see you in two weeks. Try not to traumatise Astra, brother."

"And you the Vanir, Thor," the clone said, finally flickering into non existence. With a final worried look to the balcony, Thor turned and joined his friends, trying to stop the guilt rising in his chest as he galloped away from his home and brother.

* * *

Loki turned away, exhausted by this small amount of magical exertion. He would never have admitted it but he was getting slightly worried by the wheeze that shadowed his every breath. He thought back to the 'flu he so gaily caught years ago; that was bad, but this felt worse, as though every sense was closing down. His skin burned like ice. He felt dizzy, nauseous and overwhelmingly tired. He stumbled to the bed, clutching his chest as he fought to simply breathe. Each drag was shallower than the last and with a fog clouding his mind, he used his last strength to cast a searching spell over himself, trying to see what the cause of this sudden weakness was.

Heart pounding, fighting.

Brain firing, frying.

Lungs swelling – drowning?

Water, water everywhere. Condensing and falling and moving and sinking and he had to _breathe._

 _Breathe._

 _Breathe._

 _Bre –_


	3. Part 1c - The Smell of Rain

**Poor Loki, we fangirls do make him suffer don't we?**

* * *

Loki swam in and out of consciousness. When he could feel the bed around him, there was nothing but pain. A thousand knives stabbed his chest at each pathetic hiss of breath. When he moved his mind from it and turned his back on his treacherous body, the pain was significantly less. He felt as though he walked on sand in lead boots, each step taking him further away from distinct, faint voices; his mother talking of strength, his father of magic, Astra of danger. He didn't care that they became murmurs and whispers; all he wanted was respite.

The voices faded to nothing, and the pain lessened. Loki would have smiled if he had a mouth to smile with anymore. He couldn't look, but felt a gathering darkness curl around him, opening into a yawning chasm of empty blackness behind him. He wondered what it would be like to fall into it, become the darkness himself. It would be so easy to just lean back and be swallowed whole, like falling into bed after days in the wilderness. He held a non-existent breath and spread his non-existent arms, but before he could turn away from pain and sickness forever, he felt far, far away, a heavy weight on his legs. His _real_ legs. He hesitated and the darkness unfurled from him, loosened by this feeling. He was still too distant to hear voices, but still he could somehow smell rain. He always did enjoy the smell of rain. He decided that no amount of comforting darkness could make up for never being able to smell rain again.

He walked away from the edge of the chasm, each step bringing new pain and weariness with it. The smell was stronger, the weight heavier. Eventually he found his body again; his head was full of wool, his stomach empty and he still felt like knives pierced his chest, but it was tolerable now at least. He shifted, feeling the sheets and furs on his skin as he stirred. The weight left his legs and Loki panicked, but relaxed when he felt it curl around him, resting on his shoulder, his stomach and against his side. It smelled so much like rain, Loki couldn't help but smile. He drifted back into deep sleep, allowing the weight to anchor him as he dreamed of storms and lightning.

* * *

Thor had not stopped since word reached him at the feast that Loki was near death. He ignored the storms, his soaked clothes, his abandoned friends; nothing mattered apart from his little brother lying sick and alone. He burst through the doors, which startled Astra and even made Frigga glance away from Loki for a moment. Odin didn't move though; he stood tall and proud over the bed, but when Thor came closer, he saw that his father looked older and frailer than he had ever done before.

"If he survives the night, he will live." Odin said simply.

"I will stay with him all night then," Thor said as he removed his sodden cloak and tossed it the floor.

"We all will Thor, your father and I-" Frigga started, her voice trembling, but Thor interrupted her.

"The Realm still needs its King and Queen, mother. Didn't you once try to tell me and Loki about our duties as rulers, father? That, despite what we want with all our hearts, nothing can come before Asgard?" Odin gave him a puzzled look.

"You actually listened to me then?" He said, remembering his exasperation from that day.

"Loki did; When I broke my arm, he quoted you word for word, but he used a silly voice to cheer me up," Thor said, the memory a fond one. Odin looked down at his deathly pale son and sighed.

"I would be a foolish King to not follow my own word. Have us informed the moment there is change. Frigga?" His mother looked to him, her mouth a thin line. A strange, wordless conversation happened between his parents; Frigga at first looked defiant, but Odin gave her a glance of shattering vulnerability which Thor never wanted to see again.

 _Please don't make me leave him._

 _Please don't make me be alone._

Frigga kissed Loki's forehead and with a final look to Thor, took her husband by the hand and lead him out. Thor had to wait until Astra had finished her spellwork and softly clicked the door behind her before he could leap onto the bed, hands hovering over Loki. With his magic stripped away, he looked sunken, bruised and far too small. Thor would not have recognised him as his brother on the street, but yet here he was, sick and still.

Too still. Loki had stopped breathing.

Thor didn't think, _couldn't_ think. He did what came naturally, what Loki had done throughout their childhood whenever Thor was sick and bored.

Thor sat on Loki's legs and stared at him.

 _Come back, brother. Please._

 _Please._

"Please," he whispered, unaware of the tears rolling down his face.

Loki stirred, his lips parting. He was breathing again. Thor sobbed with relief and sat back, falling off Loki's legs. His brother shifted, his breath caught in a frightened gasp. Thor shushed him and curled up next to him, one arm supporting his head, the other resting on his stomach. Loki stilled and began breathing deeply, steadily, a ghost of a smile on his lips. Thor watched his breath, counting out its rhythm, shushing and comforting Loki when it became irregular and counting again when he had calmed.

When he saw sunlight break through the high windows, he sighed with joy. The threat of death in the night had been cast aside; Loki would be okay. Thor kissed his brother's forehead, in full knowledge that he would never be able to once he was awake, and finally let sleep claim him.

* * *

Thor remembered his deathly stillness when he saw Loki kill Coulson. He thought of counting his breathing when Loki sent waves of Chitauri to destroy New York. He knew a maniac had stabbed him in the side, but all he could see was his little brother, softly sleeping in his arms.

Despite what he told himself, that the Loki he knew and loved was gone forever, he still couldn't shake that _somewhere_ under the madness was the man who smiled when he saw Thor by his side. _Somewhere_ was the person who danced in the rain, saying he had always so loved the smell of it. _Somewhere_ was Thor's little brother who had walked a knife's edge away from death once before.

Thor would be damned if he would let whatever had taken his brother from him finish the job.

* * *

 **That's the end of Part One. Yay! Cake and confetti for everyone!**


	4. Part 2a - S'en Débarasser

**Fun fact! The Jawhn and Diane stuff is inspired by real life from something I witnessed in a Parisian restaurant. Much love for y'all Stateside but... man, they were jerks...**

* * *

Three years after his trip off the Bifrost, New York and all that had followed (in what he now called The Unpleasantness), Loki was, for once, calm. He had left Asgard (with only three prison guards murdered, a personal best) and was settled quite well in Montparnasse. He enjoyed Paris and Parisians, particularly their attitude towards food. Loki appreciated a culture that was universally ashamed if the bread that morning hadn't made you openly weep with jhappiness, and in turn they seemed to have taken to him. It hadn't been hard actually; Parisians seemed to like anyone who wasn't loud and garish and at least tried to speak a little French every once in a while. Loki's French was naturally perfect within an hour of moving in, but it always did to slip up here and there, apologise and correct himself, if only to show faux humility or be utterly irresistible to everyone in his near vicinity.

He was enjoying a perfectly sautéed sea bass in a small restaurant near the Sacre Coeur (infested with tourists, but he enjoyed the pretty pianist who played requests and the red wine was worth the thousand sticky children roaming around outside) when it happened. It had to eventually. He ate late to try and avoid this kind of encounter. In fact, he was the only other diner, so their voices hit him like hammers as he paused, his fork half way to his mouth as his appetite rapidly vanished.

"Oh my _Gaaawd_ , Jawhn, look at how _precious_ this place is!"

"Yeah, it's real cute Diane, can we just grab something and go?"

 _Americans._

Loki looked up. Diane seemed to be dressed in a floral tent, her bleach blonde hair piled on top of her head like a particularly awful centrepiece. 'Jawhn' was wearing white, ankle high socks with brown leather sandals, beige shorts, a yellowing t-shirt and (oh, how Loki nearly threw up) a Yankees baseball cap. _Backwards._

Loki and the pianist exchanged a glance as she walked over with her requests sheet. Loki found her sweet and harmless, so he felt affronted on her behalf when he saw how Diane ignored her and Jawhn held up a pasty hand to stop her kind welcome.

"Er, excuse me? We're A-mer-ri-can, do you speak Eng-lish?" He said, the pianist maintaining perfect composure whilst Loki casually pulled a throwing knife out of thin air.

"Ah oui, I mean, yes sir, I was wondering if you would like me to play something for you tonight?" She said, to which Diane sighed loudly.

"I'm sure whatever you play would be fine, sweetheart," she said, not once taking her eyes off her phone. Loki's rage was simmering nicely and threatened to boil over when he saw tears in the pianist's eyes; no American was going to be rude to _his_ piano lady, especially to the point of tears. He was about to make their money mysteriously change into top secret and highly illegal documents (just so they could stew in a secret prison for a few years, nothing serious) when he heard Jawhn mutter, "No one can do a good cheese burger here, no wonder these fags can't get their browns in order."

That. _Did it_.

Slowly, like how a tiger stalked an unsuspecting deer, he casually swaggered to their table and stood over them, silently.

"Sorry honey, we're not ready to order yet," Diane said, still not making eye contact.

"But you are ready to leave though, yes? This country I mean, not just this restaurant," Loki said, conversationally. Diane finally looked up from her phone as Jawhn clenched his fist.

"Just who do you think you are buddy?" He said, drawing himself to his full (and meagre) height. Loki looked down on him and smiled with too many sharp teeth.

"I am Loki, and you are unwelcome. Now, you could leave under your own volition, or I could slit every artery you possess before you have time to pull back that ham you call a fist," he said, thoroughly enjoying the look on Jawhn's face.

"Is that a threat, mister?" Diane said, putting her hands on her hips.

"A promise, I assure you," he said, beaming at her. Jawhn stood back, studying him.

"Well, that's good enough for me," he said and Diane nodded. All at once, they pulled guns out from seemingly nowhere as Loki tried to duck and jump, his shock that these people were actually _capable_ of something fighting with his survival instincts. They shot him simultaneously – _darts_ , the non-jumping, non-ducking part of his brain thought – with one finding his shoulder, one his heart. He scrambled back and felt a third dart pierce his neck. Turning against a wave of tiredness crashing to see who else he had to kill, he found himself pushed onto his back by the pianist, who had handcuffed him somewhere between Loki standing and Loki lying down. He was mildly surprised, but his lack of reaction could have caused by the forty millilitres of barbiturate currently swimming through his system. He saw Jawhn flash a badge to the waiting staff and hold his hand to his ear. With his earpiece covered to keep the noise out and kneeling down with one knee, his gun hand resting on the other, Loki knew he had seen him before. As he allowed the drugs to take over, he cackled loudly.

"Hello, Hawkeye – did you miss me?" He said, before he completely blacked out.


	5. Part 2b - All Taking, No Giving

**This is a short one, but what is that I hear? Could it be? Yes! It's the plot, bounding from over hills and far away!**

* * *

Scorched. He was a husk, burned and empty. No hair no eyes no skin no teeth all gone. _Gone gone gone not coming back can't come backplease no don't come back all gone can't take anymore all gone._

Laughter. Hard laughter, not nice. He remembered nice laughter, remembered when things were funny. He remembered laughing at funny things. He gasped – the laughter was closer, he didn't want it closer, it would try and take more and there was _no more_. It had his face, his body, his clothes – what more could it want? It stopped in front of him, twisting his face into a cruel parody of his own smile. He was angry, angrier than he'd ever been. It carried on laughing at him, touching him, digging its hands in to his mind and picking it apart.

"Ah little thunderer, what treats do you have for me in here?" It said, taking his anger away and holding it in front of him. It delved deeper, taking his battle strategies, his intelligence, his strength, looking at his humility and childhood with disdain, casting aside his humour and love with a sneer. Thor sobbed brokenly.

When it was done, all he had left was despair.


	6. Part 2c - Don't Look Back in Anger

**The wheels on the plot go round and round, round and round, round and round...**

* * *

Loki awoke tied to a chair with adamantium chains. He was still as high as a kite, but through the haze of colours and sounds he saw battleship grey skies ghost over a skyline he had never seen before. Occasional skyscrapers intermingled with office and apartment blocks only six stories tall. An occasional derelict factory was adorned with ancient advertisements for soft drinks no longer sold in any democratic country on Midgard. Loki squinted at one: _Fruit Pastel Sprite_ – _Your New Favourite Flavour!_ it boasted.

Ah. So the abundance of the letter 'U' told him he was in Great Britain, but that was as far as he could gather in his current tied down and spaced out state. He turned his attention to room he was in; clearly it was an executive office, if the fabulously expensive looking furniture andthe lack of any evidence of work were any indication. He was alone though, but any thought of escape was counteracted by a feeling that he was no longer in possession of his joints. He leaned back, sighed and allowed the pretty lights and pleasant hum of the universe to ride out the after effects of the drug.

He must have fallen asleep again, because he was jerked awake with a shake and an arrow pointed directly at his eyeball. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty," said Agent Barton, that arrow pulled a little _too_ taut for Loki's liking. He glanced around, and there was Agent Romanoff, still in her Diane wig but dressed in her combat gear. Loki was extremely glad he was sober now, otherwise he would have found her hilarious and probably be nursing an arrow through the face for laughing. He shook the sleep from his mind and raised his eyebrows.

"So who exactly was the pianist?" He said as Agent Romanoff tugging her wig off and unpinned her hair.

"SHIELD agent Aurora; she says hi, and sorry she never got around to learning Shake it Off for you," she said and winced slightly as she untangled a pin. Clint smirked as Loki shrugged.

"So where am I? This time?"

"I don't think you've been to Manchester before, have you? Strange, you super villains always ignore the smaller cities. Makes it easier for us to pick our bases though," Nick Fury said from behind Loki's chair. "Stand down Avengers, Agent Hill will debrief you in DC." Agent Barton sheathed his arrow with a sigh and followed Agent Romanoff out, making sure to whack Loki with his bow as a he left. Loki relaxed slightly; seeing his former minion always did put him on edge.

"You know, you could have just _asked,_ he said as he shifted in his uncomfortable chair. "No need to ruin my dinner like that." He looked down at the chains, transformed them into snakes before vanishing them entirely. He stood up and stretched, Fury entirely unperturbed by the snakes. He was professional like that.

"Something told me you wouldn't cooperate – besides, Agent Barton was so desperate to bring you in and I didn't get him anything for his birthday," Fury said to his fingernails. Loki rolled his eyes and considered his boss. When he returned to Midgard as a refugee, rather than potential conqueror, he knew it would have been only a matter of time before he was discovered and thrown back to brother dearest. So he'd sort out Fury and asked for a job in covert operations. Fury had him strapped to a table for two days with no food or water; but as Loki was now a responsible young man who needed to impress his potential employer, he elected to sit quietly rather than peel off the impertinent man's skin with a blunted knife. Fury, impressed by his patience and self control, hired Loki as a freelance agent. Using his own power, Loki could hide from Heimdall and Asgard, but now with SHIELD protection, he was safe from anyone ever revealing his location or true identity - he could hide under his brother's nose and enjoy being a people person again.

And all he had to do in return was get his hands dirty in clandestine, highly illegal operations that would have lost a more moral being days of sleep. Loki simply snuggled into his Egyptian cotton sheets in his duplex apartment overlooking the Parisian skyline; Loki slept like a _baby._

"So, what is it this time? Please say it's another election, they're so much fun."

"I received word last night of an off world threat; I need you to neutralise it." Loki wasn't expecting that.

"Well that's nice; and the other Asgardian you have in your Fantasy Football league who actually _likes_ you won't do it because...?"

"Because Thor is the threat," Fury said, plainly.

Loki was well aware his face hadn't moved. The knee jerk twitch of jealous, spiteful, murderous rage he still felt whenever Thor's name was said out loud was stifled by this stupid man's temporary insanity. "Don't be ridiculous, Thor's vastly too dense to be threatening," he said neatly.

"We received this message from Thor yesterday," Fury said and flicked a screen on, moving it so it filled Loki's vision. It certainly looked like Thor onscreen, but his face was wrong – there was no light of laughter behind his eyes, no annoying smile on his lips and his beard was too straight, too neat. Knowing Thor rubbed his face whenever he had to think of something more difficult than _hammer = smash_ , Loki liked this angry, joyless, thoughtless incarnation of his brother less than he did the genuine article.

 _For too long, I have watched mortals slay each other in petty cruelty. For too long, I have stood idle as you kill each other for sport, for jealousy, for power. I can no longer stand by and let you burn yourselves; I will save you from yourselves by destroying your Earth. You will not need to kill, hurt or hope any longer. Every man, woman and child will face Reckoning by Thor's hammer – be not afraid, I save you from yourselves._

Loki blinked twice, looking from Fury to the screen.

"The Avengers have no part in this. SHIELD has no part in this. You end Thor's threat, you save the world, you do it alone," Fury said, at which Loki scoffed.

"Firstly," he said, pointing to the screen, "That wasn't Thor. Wherever Thor is it's not on there. Secondly, Thor wouldn't let _anyone_ use his mouth to say that about you mortals, so Thor is either dead or massively incapacitated, leaving me to defeat the thing that defeated Thor, which is probably not possible. And thirdly, I have eight other Realms to pick from if this one goes under, why should I help you?" Fury clasped his hands together.

"Because it's not just people who'll disappear – our food and music will too, meaning no more breakfast croissants and no more Taylor Swift," he said, and Loki wondered if Fury knew how much Taylor Swift meant to him. He thought about it; he really did. He then sighed, shrugged and locked eyes with Fury.

"When do I start?" He said, his grin mirthless.

* * *

 **Just a few notes, as we are at the end of Part 2 (yay!):**

 **\- I put this in the humour section because I wanted this to be seen as a light hearted, fairy tale type dealy. Though I'm aware I'm playing fast and loose at times with the definition of 'light hearted', hopefully everyone's entertained so far.  
**

 **\- Loki is a die hard Taylor Swift fan and nothing will shake that head cannon.**

 **\- Loki's been living on Earth for a while now, and updated his grander colloquialisms to something more modern; also, those fics that have Thor and Loki talk like they've just swallowed a King James Bible are just too annoying for words.  
**

 **\- Is everyone having fun? I'm having fun, let me know if you are or aren't having fun!**


	7. Part 3a - Pepper Spray

**I know I should be less mean about my country's closest ally, but... nah.**

* * *

Fury made it clear in no uncertain terms that Loki would not involve the Avengers. They would attract too much attention, Thor's apparent betrayal of the Realm would become known and all people would lose hope in their heroes. Loki understood this, understood more that if he were to break his word to Fury his life would become a lot less comfortable very quickly. So no, he did not go to The Avengers.

He went to Pepper Potts instead.

She had been reticent to listen to him at first (she screamed bloody murder and tried to bite him when he appeared in her office) but had calmed down enough to see that Loki wasn't going to kill, maim, incapacitate or harm her in any way and was sat nervously across from him, hands twitching to her coffee and her drawer (where she would be disappointed to see that her pepper spray had temporarily transformed into a signed picture of Loki) as he told her briefly what his mission was.

"So Thor is injured or dead somewhere and you've got to find whatever did it before it kills us all?" She said as she crossed her legs and leaned forward. "And you have no idea what it is yet?"

"I have my suspicions, but I'm keeping them to myself right now. It'd be embarrassing to be wrong, I wouldn't know _where_ to look," he said, watching her closely to see if there was a flicker of a smile. None. "But I have the feeling that even if I find him, we won't be enough to stop this madness by ourselves."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because if this was _my_ plan, that's the first thing I'd make sure I had covered." Pepper frowned, still mistrustful. Loki was impressed by her intelligent instinct.

"Look, I like it here, alright? Not _here_ ," he waved to the universe, "Americans are far too loud and what you do to your cheese makes me shiver, but I enjoy your climate and your recreational habits and I've just finished paying my mortgage; I plan to stay and play nicely and that won't happen if everything goes up in smoke." _There!_ The cheese thing, she smiled for a nanosecond. She was warming to him, slowly. "Though it pains me to say this, I need you to get the Avengers ready for action." He sighed, and really hated that what he was about to say was true. "I wouldn't normally see this as an advantage, but the Avengers are quite good at saving the Earth, particularly from people like me." He looked her in the eye, daring her to say something mean. She arched an eyebrow and looked unnervingly like his mother had when she used to try and see if Loki was lying to her.

"You said Earth – I thought we were Midgard to you guys?" she said, Loki completely thrown.

"Well, yes, it's rude to not call someone by their preferred name, isn't it?" She smiled; Loki's charm offensive had worked, as it almost always had done in the past.

"Where do you think Thor is?" She asked.

"Again, these are just suspicions, but there hasn't been any action taken by Asgard yet, so he's somewhere where they can't see him." He thought momentarily about explaining Heimdall's omnispective powers, but decided against it, as he didn't have all afternoon and just thinking about that man stirred up some deeply uncomfortable memories. "There are two places in the entire universe like that, and one of them occupies my immediate surroundings at all times. If I'm right, he's on a miserable rock on the edge of reality, so I'm heading there first." Pepper sat up at her desk and picked up her tablet.

"What do you need me to do?"

Half an hour later, their strategy in place, Loki stood and bowed to Pepper; he nearly took her hand to kiss, but decided it was best not to overdo it. There were manners and there were _manners_ after all.

"Until we meet again, Ms Potts," he said, straightening his back, smiling. She wasn't quite smiling, but it was a close thing.

"So long, Loki. And Loki?" She said as he turned to leave. "I don't know what happened between you and Thor, but he's my friend and... well, just make sure you find him, okay?" He nodded and with a twist, disappeared.

If Pepper was that way inclined, she would have run to the drinks cabinet, but instead went straight to her phone. After the third attempt, her boyfriend finally answered.

"Hey Tony – no I'm not pregnant, why would I – look, shut up for two seconds. You know you said you wanted a movie night with the team, just for everyone to hang out? I think we should plan that. Like, now..."


	8. Part 3b - Ice Cold on Outgard

**Loki's on the move! IN SPAAAAAAACE!**

* * *

Loki walked in the way only he could. He became shadow itself, gathering himself in the darkness of dying stars as he walked beyond the light towards his mission end. He'd discovered long ago that only sorcerers who had touched the darkness of death could move within it and even then, it was to court insanity to stay within it too long. He'd be fine (he told himself as he passed a planet destroyed by its own moon) – he was within the known fabric of the universe. When he'd tried to save himself with this power in The Void, _that_ was what gave his grip on reality a disagreeable shake.

He hoped.

He passed over planets fall into their stars, nebula dragged into black holes, galaxies consuming each other – as the scale of destruction grew, he knew he was getting closer. This part of the Tree he knew all too well; Alfheim first, then Jotenheim. Then there – Outgard. The home of the monsters even monsters fear in the dark. Near Jotenheim, but so cloaked in the darkness of death even Heimdall's gaze couldn't penetrate it. Loki shrugged off the magical shroud he wore to avoid the infernal Watcher – he didn't need it anymore and he wanted as much magic as he could grab. He lightly stepped on the Outgard surface and shivered violently. The very ground was repulsive as Loki felt thousands of slimy poisonous creature crawl into his boots and between his toes and under his skin and climb climb _climb_ to his heart and brain and –

"Look," he said firmly to his imagination, "You behave yourself or next time you're not coming, understand?"

He shook himself, and walked. He had heard that Outgard was so cold because no light had ever shone here. Though the cold had never bothered Loki before (he had his damned ancestry to thank for _that_ ), this was different from anything he'd felt before. It was the exact opposite of warmth, a chill so deep it stretched into his mind and shook away any remembrance of heat and light, until he was certain they had been fanciful notions to appease children. He remembered the cheerfully gruesome tales of this land he had demanded to hear over and over again from his own childhood: a creature who could only eat its young; a woman who pulled out her own heart and held it in her hand; a god who'd smashed a planet in two. He paused at that last thought and shot his mind a warning look.

They'd seemed like fun stories when he was safe in his bed, the warm glow of candlelight chasing away the monsters. Now he was here, things were... more difficult to find amusing.

He had walked for maybe five minutes, perhaps five days, when he at last saw something. A tiny glow on the horizon, barely more than a pinprick of light, but in this place it shone like the moon. Loki doubled his efforts and went straight for it. Because bright, shining, glorious Thor was light, wasn't he? The bloody sun shone out of his bloody arse, didn't it? Loki was a shadow compared to him, meaning he could walk with darkness as though it was an old friend whilst Thor could drink starlight like it was a glass of water. If there was going to be a being that could cast unsubtle, obvious light in a place like Outgard, it was his stupid brother.

He was closer, he could feel the miniscule warmth from the light, but it wasn't getting any bigger. Then, it disappeared entirely. He looked around, confused. Then he looked down. He was standing on it. He leapt to one side and stared at it. Curious, he reached out a tentative hand and held the light in his palm. It flickered and then leapt up his arm, clinging to him as Loki instinctively tried to shake it off. It travelled to his shoulder and settled on the crook of his neck. Loki fell to his knees and gasped at the sheer weight of the wretched thing. His entire being was flooded with powerful, awesome, _terrifying_ emotion. It was joy without cynicism, protection without jealousy, trust without hesitation; it was everything Loki told himself he didn't want because it was impossible for him to be. It was everything that made his brother brave and kind and loyal and it sickened Loki just to have it near him – how could Thor _handle_ this without going utterly mad? Loki laughed (or sobbed, he couldn't tell) at the sudden realisation. This was the lightning to Thor's rumbling thunder, the raw energy tempered by the storm clouds of Thor's presence. Loki was never meant to have seen this without the rest of Thor to protect him from it.

Carefully, Loki took it and hid it away, feeling colder and lonelier than he had ever felt in his miserable life. He wiped the tears from his face and stood, seeing the next pieces of Thor shine in the pitch darkness. He followed them, hiding them away without touching them, no longer caring what they were. They weren't his to have.

The last light hidden, Loki felt a change in the atmosphere and sensed he was in a cave. He smelled burned flesh and fresh blood, but underneath the overpowering aroma was the faintest scent of falling rain, the lightest taste of lightning. Loki tossed all caution into the wind and threw a curtain of fire behind him, the sudden light blinding him. He threw knives in all directions, hoping that if any monster were to pounce they'd have a dagger through the face instead, but there was no sound except for the crackle of his fire. He cracked open an eye and rather than teeth and claws, and saw that he was in a shallow cave with a small dark passageway to the rear. He also saw a naked, huddled creature, too low to have been hit by Loki's flurry of knives, shaking and hiding. Loki carefully approached it, not daring to see the filthy blond hair, the muscles without power, the skin slashed to ribbons.

"Give me strength Thor, how exactly did you wind up here?" He said, unable to think of anything else.

He knelt next to his ragdoll-like brother, unfolding his arms and straightening out his knees to expose his chest. Thor begged quietly to be let go, but stopped when Loki summoned a green blanket and covered his modesty with it. Loki lifted his chin and Thor's eyes opened, unfocused, darting and clearly seeing no familiarity in Loki's face.

Loki swallowed a snarl; a fundamental injustice had been taken place against the universe. _Nothing_ should be able to make Thor forget him. Wasn't it written in the stars that Thor was Loki's to torment and no one else's? Thor belonged to _him_ and him alone; others would come and go, but only Loki was allowed to have Thor forever. Did not everyone _know_ this? How dare they touch _his_ stupid brother! He wondered if it was a trick, a decoy to distract him for an ambush, but then the unmistakable smell of rain and Loki knew that this was Thor, just not his Thor, not yet.

He sat astride Thor's knees and held his palm to Thor's forehead, searching for any empty spaces inside him. He frowned when he felt that Thor was almost a blank slate, with only fear and pain filling his insides. Well, Loki knew how to fix this at least. He murmured incantation after incantation, moving his hand from Thor's head to his chest and back again, slowly softening the path to Thor's ravaged soul. He could have just slammed the lights back into his brother's mind, but that would have definitely killed him; it was a miracle he'd survived their taking in the first place.

Finally satisfied with his work, Loki stitched together his battered brother's skin, magically healing the scars and wounds someone had rudely marked his brother with. A clean, still blank canvas before him, Loki summoned the lights from the dimension he'd place them in. They danced in the air between his hands and he gently ushered them back to where they belonged, feeling more like himself as they melted back into Thor one by one. Thor screamed and writhed underneath Loki, who grabbed his shoulders to steady him. Thor eventually relaxed and his eyes swam back into focus, blinking in the firelight.

"Lo...Loki?" He whispered, voice cracking.

"Of course, you utterly ridiculous pillock," he said and Thor wheezed with laughter. Loki forgot himself entirely as he wrapped his arms around his brother's neck and held on for dear life. He felt like his was a child, running to his brother for comfort and warmth and tried to not care that Thor had instantly embraced him back.

"Well, this is lovely. You should sell tickets next time, Loki, you'd make a fortune."


	9. Part 3c - Incy Wincy Spider God

**Life tip: When entering an alien cave on an evil world... actually, just don't do that. Go home, your family misses you.**

* * *

Loki turned his head toward the voice. Out of the flickering shadows of his fire approached an enormous spider, skin and eyes glinting in the dancing flames. In the gloom, Loki could see a yellow face patterned across its back; it could have been smiling if Loki was in any mood to see any sort of upside in his current predicament.

"I suppose it does make a for good story – the Golden Son of Odin, trapped and defeated, rescued by the only person alive who wants to see him fall." He pushed himself gently away from Thor and stood, thankful to be looking down on the spider, if only by an inch. "And you're all about a good story, aren't you Anansi?"

The trickster god lifted his head, his hundred eyes blinking as Loki fought to not step back in fear. "Although I'm surprised to find you on Outgard, you always struck me as an open space and starlight type of god," he continued, noticing the slight waver in his voice. "For the owner of all the stories, I thought you'd pick somewhere less... _clichéd_ ," he said as Anansi laughed as though he had ripped the noise from the end of the universe.

"But then there's no quest for the story, is there? I knew you would find him though, I knew you would come because you're trying to change your story, aren't you Loki?" Anansi reared and hooked a claw into Loki's right shoulder, his fangs bearing down on him as Loki tried unsuccessfully to keep a whimper of pain escaping. "You grew tired of the villainy Thor's heroics demanded, didn't you? You saw defeat litter your path and stopped walking it, allowing the Son of Asgard to exist without opposite or equal and _that_ , little god, I could not allow." His claw sank into Loki's shoulder, pushed him down and underneath his massive bulk.

"Why do you care?" Loki gasped, terrified as Anansi held his head a hairs-breath away from his face. Anansi twisted his claw and Loki screamed, paralysed by panic.

"I _care_ , oh duplicitous one, because you and Thor are destined to oppose each other for as long as one of you still draws breath and that is a story not even _you_ can twist away from. If you will not be the shadow to Thor's light, then you both will be set aside for another to take your places." Anansi's fangs brushed Loki's face and he tried to shift away from danger, but another claw pinned his left shoulder to ground, grinding through bone and muscle as it pierced through him; all he could see were fangs, all he could feel was pain, all he could hear was Anansi's low, whispering voice. He was completely trapped. There was no way out.

"There is another already eager to fulfil your fate though; he flies to your precious Earth wearing a heroe's face but hosting a villainous heart. This story will have need for neither brother now – it will be a good story indeed."

Loki knew then he would die. He felt a familiar ( _too familiar_ ) shroud of darkness envelope him as Anansi's fangs began to drip with venom, his vision blurred as he tensed for the final bite that would end everything –

And the claws ripped out of his shoulders with a sickening scream as Anansi flailed madly, his legs scrambed as he tried to reach the back of his head with his claws, screaming with insanity as his did so. Loki saw a gleam of a dagger as Anansi twisted on top of him, unable to reach it. His arms useless, Loki summoned a knife to his toecap and kicked as hard as he was capable, rewarded as Anansi staggered forwards and through Loki's fire, his screams still echoing around the cave.

As he raised his head Loki saw Thor, the blanket tied around his waist. His chest heaved as he held a dagger aloft, hands covered in Anansi's blood. He looked like he was going to say something, but instead dropped the dagger as he fell to his knees and crawled towards Loki. Thor snaked his arm behind his neck and collapsed by him, his body a dead weight at his side. Strengthening their fiery protection with a pointed thought, Loki settled next to Thor and he was sure his brother whisper in his unconsciousness: _My Loki_.

Loki thought if perhaps he wasn't the only one with a possessive streak, but then the healing sleep claimed him, and he thought no more.

* * *

 **That's Part Three done and dusted; salutations of joy for you! Some notes:**

 **\- I am a fairy tale/mythology nerd, hence why my second favourite trickster god is making an appearance.**

 **\- This was started before Age of Ultron came out (in case you're reading this in the future) and though I could have adapted it to fit the MCU as it stands, I still don't have a clue as to what happened in that film (robots and Hydra and Vision, oh my!) so I'd rather just stick to what I planned.**

 **\- Someone asked why Loki loving Taylor Swift is my headcannon; I honestly can't answer that. I think he digs how mean she can be, how awesome she is? I just know that Loki wearing headphones and jamming to We Will Never Ever Get Back Together will never** ** _not_** **be funny to me.**

 **\- Thanks everyone who's followed, favourited and especially left a review for this so far; I am aware I'm spamming you with updates, but considering my track record for not completing multi-chapter stories like this, I'm just stoked that you all seem to be digging it so far!**


	10. Part 4a - Down Time in Marrakesh

**We interrupt this broadcast to bring you breaking news from our correspondent in the field:**

* * *

Clint Barton's mission had been the only thing that mattered. He was the only person available with the skills and mindset to successfully dismantle a new and vicious sect of anarchists in Morocco and dammit, he stayed on mission. When Tony's house was blown into the ocean, he stayed on mission. When London was under attack by aliens, he stayed on mission. When SHIELD fell and Natasha was dragged in front of Congress like an animal, he stayed on mission. His only weekend off had been that trip to Paris and even that had been a (very fun) task set by Fury; afterwards, he parted ways with his best friend and he _stayed. On. Mission._ And he won. He enjoyed that. The sadistic nutballs ran, terrified as each new leader died in the night, each potential bomber found with an arrow in the back. He'd flushed them out like rats from a sewer, carefully taking out the influential and irreversibly crazy ones until all was left were a bunch of quiet, scared kids huddled around their phones, wondering if they would actually die for their cause or if they should go home to their normal lives.

Clint had liked his mission. It was simple, straightforward and he picked up a sick ass pay cheque doing it. He was thinking of staying for a few weeks, maybe explore the country he'd just quietly saved, maybe try the sheep's head they fed to tourists, when he got the text.

 _Movie Night tonight –I think you'd like Troll Hunter, They framed Volda really well._ _Pepper._

So entrenched in his own code for his six month mission, he had almost forgotten what Movie Night meant; he groaned in frustration at the recollection. Movie Night meant an Avenger in trouble. The origin of the film was the country in which he was needed, the location mentioned where he would rendezvous with JARVIS. The six of them had spent hours working out the code. It had been fun in a mindless way and Tony logged each and every codename they spitballed, but he never thought they'd actually _use_ it. Clint looked up at the cloudless, midday November sky, people milling around in the permanent summer of Marrakesh as though they'd never known cold before. He thought mournfully of the coastal trip he'd booked that morning; he could be surfing by tomorrow if he pretended that his phone had been stolen, or lost... But the mission was everything to Clint. He was lost and bored without one.

He probably sucked at surfing anyway.


	11. Part 4b - Up and Away

**Loki is to expressing his feelings as Tony Stark is to quiet moderation...**

* * *

Loki woke with feeling in his hands again, which all considered, was probably the only positive outcome of his situation. Flexing his fingers, he cast a highly sensitive spell to look for other life forms and his mind instantly exploded with the power of Thor's presence. He yelped and leapt to his feet, clutching his head as he hastily dissipated the spell, unaware if Anansi was miles away or just outside the cave.

Bloody god of bloody thunder.

Migraine in full swing, Loki kicked Thor in the side, partly out of revenge for his head, partly because he had no idea how long they had been in this cave. They needed to get back to Midgard, if there was still a Midgard to go now. Thor groaned and looked to Loki, eyes widening as he beheld his brother.

"What happened?" He asked after a while.

"You stabbed Anansi in the back of the head, he ran off and now we have to get back to Midgard before whoever he got to replace us in his grand story destroys everything," Loki said, searching for the spare pair of boots, trousers and shirt in Thor's size he'd always kept on him. Tossing them to the ground, he wondered for exactly how long he'd had them for – centuries, probably, they looked dated. He looked in vain for a spare shirt in his own size but couldn't find one and sighed as he looked down at his ruined Tom Ford sweater, so caked in blood and dried venom. He waved away the stains and rips, but it just didn't feel the same. He looked up; Thor hadn't moved.

"You were dead," Thor said, his face a mess of confusion.

"Yes, well, things change," he said, Thor's eyebrow twitching.

"You –"

"Look, we don't have _time_ for this. Whoever Anansi gave your power to he's going to use that to destroy Midgard, _which_ , may I remind you, is sort of against your MO."

Thor stumbled to his feet. "I thought you were _dead_ , brother, I held you as you _died_."

Loki grimaced, suddenly angry. "Yes, so dead that you didn't even bother to bury me, take me home or even just sodding move me out of the open wilderness where who knows _what_ could have happened to me," he said, his words hanging in the air between them. Thor recoiled.

"Loki, I – Malakeith had the Aether, we had –"

"To get back to Midgard with no time for emotional distraction; funny, I thought that was this situation right now," Loki said, picking dirt from under his fingernails, trying to regain his composure. He felt exposed and unanswerably bitter. Swallowing his anger, he thought instead of the task at hand - if the thing Anansi had sent had touched _any_ of his things because of Thor's sluggishness, he would not be held responsible for his actions. Thor for his part moved to put on his clothes with speed. Loki held up a hand to stop Thor when he was about to say something.

"Can we just – not? At least until we get out of here?" Thor nodded, still confused. "Now, can you fly still?" Thor bowed his head.

"Some... _thing_ , it took my strength and my mind, I called for Mjolnir thousands of times but it never answered. I'm... I'm no longer worthy of it," he said. Loki frowned.

"I don't know about your strength, but I think I gave you your mind back- at least, the sentimental nonsense that wouldn't appeal to a potential planet destroyer," He said, ignoring the memory of the terrifying power of Thor's _sentimental nonsense_. "I think you should try again."

Thor sighed and reached out his hand, closing his eyes in concentration. Loki knew he could get himself back, but he knew Thor couldn't walk as he could, and he wasn't keen on hiding Thor in his endless space – it wasn't just objects he kept there, but parts of himself he couldn't or wouldn't deal with right now (or probably ever). Dark, evil things he torn out of his shattered mind when it had all been just too much to cope with, when being himself had twisted and distorted from all recognition and his only solace had been his limitless hatred for everything he once held dear and true. It was not a place for passengers.

Thor flexed his fingers, beads of sweat forming on his brow. He crouched down, resting his other hand on the ground for support. A small noise echoed in the silence; a distant sonic boom followed by a roar of wind and thunder. Thor grimaced and held his palm open, greeted by a clash of lightening as the hammer hit his beckoning hand, blinding white filling the cave. Loki reeled back, shielding his eyes as he heard Thor roar over the din of thunder. The light faded and Loki opened his eyes, finding himself relieved to see to Thor, God of Thunder, standing tall and proud in his battle armour. Thor looked down, bellowed in triumph and blasted lightening around himself, the crackle of his magic setting Loki's own on fire inside him. It reached out, throwing green flame at Thor's lightening in a maelstrom, wreathing itself around Thor as he levitated, his arms raised and head thrown back as expelled weeks of pent up rage and fear from himself. Loki couldn't help but marvel at the sight of so much power and majesty before him.

The fire and lightning faded away and Thor touched the ground again, folding himself into a crouch, breathing heavily. Loki moved closer and lifted Thor's chin with his finger and at last saw Thor whole again. He tried to ignore the swell of relief in his chest.

"Drama queen," he said. Thor grinned so widely his face may have split in half.

"I learned from the best, brother," he said, shakily. He stood and looked Loki in the eye. "To Migard?"

" _Finally_ – yes, you fly to Jotenheim and jump from there to Midgard on the Bifrost, I will travel alone and meet you there, since the Bifrost isn't exactly an option for me right now." Thor grasped Loki's arm and gave him the Look; not just a look, _the_ Look, the one what he used when he was about to do something intensely reckless which would mean days of clearing up for Loki. He _hated_ that Look.

"Always so complicated with you brother," he said with a smirk. And just as Loki hastily threw his Heimdall shroud over himself, Thor blasted them away from the cave, Outgard and towards the centre of the universe in mere seconds. All Loki could do was cling to Thor for dear life and the Realms disappeared underneath him. He looked up at Thor, so enchanted by the magic and energy flowing through his veins that he was entirely ignorant to the deathly glare Loki was trying to burn him alive with.

At least they were heading in the right direction.


	12. Part 4c - Long Walks and Hard Talks

They landed with a thump. Loki unhooked himself from Thor, stood three paces back and Screamed. It was a good Scream. It had started stretching its legs ever since he stepped onto Outgard, had been lifting weights when he had seen Thor in the cave, changed its diet when Anansi rudely stabbed him with his spider claws and had started drinking protein shakes when Thor blasted off of Outgard. By the time he could see Earth, it was competing professionally with an eye on the Olympic Screams selection committee. It was piercing, but not shrill, ripped from Loki's weary soul via his well trained diaphragm. It would have shattered glasses and teeth if there were any mortals around, but unfortunately for Loki, there was just Thor, who looked perturbed but not totally surprised. The Scream ended under its own steam, Loki merely a vessel for its moment in the sunshine. When Loki's pupils had returned to their normal size and he touched the ground again (if Thor had thought it strange to see him levitate throughout The Scream, he was tactful enough to not mention it). He coughed, smoothed his hair down and sighed.

"Feeling better?" Thor asked, mindful to remain a respective distance in case The Scream decided that what it really needed after that was a hearty stabbing.

"Mildly," Loki replied, his voice slightly hoarse. He knew Thor would never speak of The Scream again – he never did. It had only come once before, after the first time Loki had seen battle. He had comported himself at the celebratory feast with dignity and grace, only letting himself go to The Scream when Thor had noticed his thousand yard stare and taken him to his private chambers. The Scream meant Not Good, and Thor had always dealt with Not Good by holding him physically together until the shaking stopped or by never mentioning it again.

Loki preferred the latter option, given the circumstances. How was _Thor_ alright though? He was stretching as though he'd just taken a bracing stroll, his stint as a spider god's plaything seemingly forgotten about. Loki huddled in on himself, his old jealousy rearing its ugly head as he beheld his brother – he did suit the title of _god_ rather well, so resplendent in armour with a halo of weak winter sunshine basking him in artistic light. He thought of his green travel cloak and dated old clothes he'd given him, left behind and forgotten in a cave on Outgard. They didn't matter - totally unsuitable attire for space travel – but he couldn't explain the hurt he felt in the pit of his stomach that he had them with him for centuries, kept carefully and safely, only to be left behind once Thor touched them. He felt that they weren't good enough. He wasn't good enough.

 _Do please get over yourself, darling_ , thought the mean part of his mind. He stood straight and looked down. With a golden shimmer, his Parisian attire giving way to his Asgardian leather. He smiled to himself; he'd never changed, not really. Feeling more like his old, devastatingly attractive and viciously intelligent self, he bounced on the balls of his feet, swinging his hands.

"Where are we? Precisely I mean," He said, casting around for any hints. It looked desolate and barren, an abandoned town set to early ruin around them, the vast sky only interrupted by the distant mountains. There was not another soul in sight.

"Puerte Antigua, but I do believe it's seen better days," said Thor, pointedly. Oh yes, it was coming back to him now. Perfect, Thor was as predictable as ever. He texted Pepper Potts quickly and looked again at the broken settlement. Stars, he hoped this would work. He found himself relying far too heavily on Pepper Potts on this side of the plan, he just hoped his intuition about her intelligence wasn't woefully off the mark.

"Mmm, I recognise the scorch marks of The Destroyer – that was quite some weekend wasn't it?" Thor's smile swiftly began a frown, and unexpectedly clapped his hand on Loki's shoulder.

"You're fortunate no one died here, or I would not be in such high spirits, brother. Now, I assume you have a plan?" Loki quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I do, I think. We're meeting someone ten miles north of here _let's just walk shall we?"_ Loki inadvertently shrieked as Thor began swinging that damned hammer. He marched away, Thor falling into step beside him.

* * *

They walked away from the setting sun, Loki counting down from fifty in his head.

 _Three, two, one_ –

"So you cheated death again," Thor said, and Loki inwardly smiled at his constant proof that Thor could not keep quiet for even a minute.

"It would seem so, yes," he replied quietly.

"How so this time?" Thor asked and Loki stole a sideways glance. Thor's jaw was set and his eyes forward – this was no idle conversation to break the silence. Loki had a horrible feeling that this would lead to _feelings_.

"Magic, of course," he said as Thor hummed in dissatisfaction.

"And where did you go?" He said.

 _Hel. Your father's throne. In chains. On a torture bed. To war. Hel again-_ "Paris," Loki said, figuring this to be the safest option. Thor grabbed his arm and wheeled him around, fire in his eyes. _Ah, wrong again._

"You were _here?"_ Thor spat, incredulous rage building in him. "You were on _Midgard_? You knew damn well where I was and you never even _tried_ to tell me?" Loki was at a loss.

"Why would I? You were with your new friends-" he tried to say, but Thor threw his arm away as though he burned to the touch.

"I _mourned_ you! I thought I'd _lost_ you! I woke screaming in the night _holding_ you but you would wither in my arms and crumble to dust and I couldn't _save_ you! I died a thousand deaths reliving yours and when I came close to death myself," he grabbed his shoulders roughly, forcing Loki to look at him. "I didn't _care_ because I would be with _you_ again! I loved you brother, and you didn't tell me you were alive and here because I have _friends_?" Thor shook him, hard. Loki felt his teeth rattle and pushed him away.

"You have a life here Thor! A life that I can no longer be part of, what with your Tony Stark and your Captain Rodgers and Jane Foster, you moved on without me and I _let_ you – you were happy! I saw you on the television, you were happier than you have ever been!" He shouted, surprised by his own honesty.

"You let me think... Stars above, Loki, I thought you and I would be together for millennia. I thought – _truly_ I thought – that your madness and selfishness and petty jealousy would fall away to the man you once were and we would be together again, as _brothers_ ," he spat the last word to the ground. Loki moved away and kept walking, mindful to not turn his back on Thor.

"I thought you would be better off without me," He said lamely, thinking back to the moment he'd sent Thor away under Odin's visage, how much better he thought he would be without Thor. A mistake in a long line of fascinating and elaborate mistakes it would later transpire. Thor's anger seemed to soften into misery, but he rallied himself into a hardened, battle worn grimace.

"I'm beginning to wish that were true, brother," He said, but at least he was walking again. Stony harsh silence befell them as night gathered up the dusk around them. For the first time in a long time, Loki wondered if perhaps he'd gone too far, but a selfish whisper in his mind stilled his apology, and he stayed silent.

* * *

 **Part Four is done - you read it, you can't unread it! So time for footnotes:**

 **\- It did always bug me that in Thor 2, Thor totally just** ** _leaves_** **Loki behind. I always figured that Loki, being the manipulative little guttersnipe his is, would absolutely use this to his advantage.**

 **\- Besides Thor, Hawkeye is my favouritest Avenger and he doesn't get nearly enough fandom love.**

 **\- I'm away this weekend, so you have a small reprieve from updates, but hopefully normal services will resume come Monday.**

 **\- Thanks to everyone who's followed, favourited and reviewed so far - you be awesome.**


	13. Part 5a - Of Monsters and Magic

**For tonight's performance, the role of Basil Exposition will be portrayed by Thor, the God of Thunder:**

* * *

Two thousand and fifty three seconds later, Thor still had not spoken. Loki thought he had bitten his tongue with his quiet seething. He found himself aching for Thor to shout, yell, scream – just something to break his foul mood and go back to the loud, boorish hammer smasher he knew. There wasn't a cloud in the sky to break the endless see of stars; Thor angry without storms was as telling as The Scream was for Loki and it was very definitely Not Good. He clapped his hands together, the Thor turn his head sharply to him at the noise.

"How were you taken?" He said and Thor's look somehow darkened.

"There were stories, whispers of an ancient power in the heart of the Gambia. A trickster god making flesh and blood out of legend and myth. I investigated the rumours myself, finding only frightened children and misbelieving adults, until I saw for myself that the whispers were true." Thor swallowed, staring ahead. "I was ambushed by beings unlike I had ever seen; I fought mightily, but I was overpowered quickly – Anansi and his kind were too cunning for me. I was struck from behind. When I awoke, I was informed I was on Outgard by that wretched creature Anansi. A man took my face, my strength and my mind, leaving me with the spider. I was... It was brutality I have neither witnessed nor felt before." His voice was mechanical, his eyes glazed, staring into the distance.

"Who was the man?" Loki whispered, needing information so desperately but unwilling to push Thor too far; he couldn't afford silent reverie.

"A demon," Thor said, his voice wavering. "A demon with death in his eyes and an insatiable thirst for my blood. Anansi said he would not kill me but I remember wishing he could. I was close when he left..."

"Did they say why he'd taken you? Is Anansi working for the demon?" Loki said and Thor blinked away what must have been dust; Thor with tears in his eyes was not something Loki would like to admit to being a possibility.

"I am not sure, they seemed to behave as equals. But Anansi said my story was doomed to be unfulfilled whilst I was there and another would take my place and yours. He said that I should have risen as a hero and you fallen to villainy but we were shaping our lives without the story and he would not allow us this luxury of life any longer. The demon will rise and fall and the story will be completed with the cries of billions of souls," Thor said and Loki saw his hand twitch Mjolnir, sparks of lightning crackling from his fingertips into its metal, fusing man and weapon together. He looked at Loki with a cool ferocity.

"These people will not die because a spider deemed me unworthy of his story. This is our battle and it will not end in anyone else's bloodshed. We will fight against him together. I am not sure what we will face, but we do so alone. And when the battle is won you will leave my sight forever - never again will I call you brother. Do we have an agreement?" He meant every word as well, every damn word. Loki almost rolled his eyes but enjoyed his face without Thor's fist in it far too much for that to be a sensible reaction. He nodded.

"Fair, but I'm staying in France and you can't make me leave." Thor grunted, obviously unwilling to listen to anything else he had to say. Loki looked ahead to the rendezvous point less than a mile away, then to the night skies above. He narrowed his eyes as he saw a faint band of brilliant green light skitter across the horizon, growing more opaque with each passing second. It looked exactly like the Northern Lights, but it was the wrong time of year and the wrong hemisphere to see that particular display so Loki watched in puzzlement as it writhed in the sky. Like a snake, wrapping itself around the Earth...

"I think the battle will be sooner than you realise Thor," he said, quickening his pace, never taking his eyes off the green light.

Loki swore, and he knew Anansi's nasty little plan to make a good story. He was inducing Ragnarok.


	14. Part 5b - AI Identity Crisis

**This originally had Pepper using her Iron Man 3 powers, but then I remembered they fixed her of that at the end of Iron Man 3 and I was super sad for some reason. Pepper should have been left as a fire god, that would have been beyond kickass.**

* * *

Lights flickered over an outcrop, which they crested in silence. There was Pepper Potts, stood under helicopter lights, circled by what looked like robots armed to the teeth. No, Loki realised as he slinked to the edge in the shadow, wary of any danger (large and green and wearing purple trousers, that sort of danger); these robots looked like even their teeth were fully locked and loaded. He counted thirteen, facing outwards in a circle, away from Ms Potts and the helicopter; they looked like trigger happy lunatics and Loki did not trust them one bit. Obviously, this would take care and exactness, as Ms Potts looked nervous and ready to shoot anything that wasn't precisely what she was looking for. Of course, Loki hadn't counted on Thor. Emotionally spent, freshly tortured and blind with relief at seeing a sorely missed friend, Thor yelled to Ms Potts and leapt down in front of her.

"Thor, I don't think you should – _dammit_ ," Loki said, his warning falling on deaf ears as she yelled a command to the robots, who pointed their weapons at the hulking mass in uncanny unison. A click of about sixty automatic barrels echoed in the night air as a metric ton of lead was about to be unloaded into Thor. Loki squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated. When he opened them, the robots were still prototype military grade killing machines filled with the desire to execute the attack sequence triggered by Ms Potts. They were also suddenly going through an intense AI identity crisis, since each and every one was now, in body if not mind, a tasteful vintage Tiffany lamp.

Ms Potts, to give her credit, did not seem put off by this sudden lack in personal security, but reached for her gun, her jaw set as she flicked the safety off. Thor held his hands up and she hesitated; Loki couldn't see it, but he was sure Thor was giving her the puppy dog look, the one that had wormed him out of almost all trouble on Asgard in their childhood. She whispered something – Thor nodded. She dropped the gun and practically threw herself at him, arms wrapped tightly around his neck as Thor steadied himself under the weight of her affection. Loki lightly walked towards them as she spoke about fifteen words at once.

"-And your brother said not to trust anyone who looked like you unless he was with them because it could be the imposter and then the sky went weird and you showed up and he wasn't there and Thor I'm so sorry Tony made me bring the stupid robots –"

"It's alright, Miss Potts, you do not need to explain yourself to your friend," Thor said and she pulled away from him, staring at him, relief written all over her face. Only then did she spot Loki, stood just outside the glare of the helicopter searchlights. Her smile schooled itself into a more business like frown and stepped away from Thor, smoothing her skirt.

"You're early. No signs of the apocalypse from any of the hot spots, but I think Clint got frost bite, judging by his texts," she said scrolling through her phone. "Wait, no, that's how he normally talks. Weird." Thor looked at her, blankly.

"Miss Potts, why are you not firing at the war criminal? And why would Barton be cold?"

"Because," Loki said, side stepping a particularly menacing lamp, "Ms Potts posted the Avengers in places I assumed you would most likely land – Agent Barton is currently freezing in Norway, a great shame for us all. And I used devastating good looks and charm to get Ms Potts to call a truce between your friends and myself until this beastly end of the world nonsense is put to bed." Thor glowered at him and turned to the business woman, his eyebrows raised.

"Is this true?"

"Yes," she said, her tone careful. Her phone pinged and she read a text, her brow furrowed. "But we can explain later, Tony wants us back at base, apparently his sky is weird too." She gestured to her pilot as Loki looked up. The misplaced Northern Lights had stretched across the huge sky of New Mexico, the green band shimmering with blue flecks which could almost pass for scales from a distance. He wondered if Ms Potts was the type who could see a child spell out three sixes in a sandpit on his tricycle and think it was a neat trick if she just thought the sky as 'weird', but the roar of the helicopter engine began, and his head had no more room for idle curiosity. He concentrated again, and the Tiffany lamps disappeared. She looked down from the helicopter.

"We could have used them you know, if it's as bad as you say it is," she shouted.

"Trust me – it would be like using Savlon to cure a broken neck," he replied, cheerfully. It was good to be moving again.

* * *

Thousands of miles above them, the green ribbon of light, called into existence by magic older than the stars themselves, twisted into life. It impossibly formed a head and a body, writhing and slashing through the painful process of birth with a pit of anger rumbling in its stomach. The snake snapped its new jaws and flicked its new tongue and looked down at the blue planet beneath it. It knew it had to squeeze it, crush it, destroy it; this was knowledge as old as the snake was new.

The snake rolled in space, the fabric of reality bending around it, accommodating its existence. It wanted, with every fibre of its body, to bear down on the planet and begin its feast, but it halted. A voice, dripping with greed, told it to wait for a signal. The voice said a comet would come soon and smash the planet in two and it would devour the remains, all who survived the comet despairing as they become victims of the snake's insatiable hunger. The snake smiled, venom dripping from its eager mouth as it tried to be patient. It could wait a few moments before fulfilling its life's destiny.


	15. Part 5c - Norweigian Wood

**I'm English, I'm going to take about the weather come hell or high water (and what's with the hell and high water we've been having recently, weird right?)**

* * *

Clint Barton was experiencing cold weather. No, the weather Clint Barton was experiencing had passed mere coldness three hours ago, when he had hopped off the Quinjet in the barren Norwegian wasteland. Cold weather for Clint Barton now seemed like an idle fantasy. What Clint Barton was now experiencing had all the characteristics of cold weather, but it seemed to be personally targeted at him, as though he'd managed to piss off the wind itself so it would blast him relentlessly with a freeze that even Emperor Penguins would consider to be a bit much. He shifted, Tony's battle robots primed around him and the Quinjet as he glanced upwards. He didn't know how a Norwegian sky in the middle of the afternoon should look, but he doubted that he should be seeing a green band stretch from horizon to horizon. He fumbled for his phone to text Pepper again, but as he did so, the wind dropped. The snow stopped, the white blanket surrounding him falling to the ground and all was deathly quiet. He silently knocked an arrow and waited, all previous grumblings about his lot in life swept away as he focused.

He stood for a full thirty seconds in the silence. There were no birds, no distant animal noises. There was only the faint buzzing of the robots, the creak of his bow string as he pulled his arrow back. A dreadful fear came over him as a soft, menacing breath echoed through the frozen landscape. He turned to the noise, amplified by his hearing aide, as he stared into the trees two hundred feet away to his right. The breath turned into a growl as the tree tops shrugged off snow. Barton readied his arrow. His breath stilled.

A paw, monstrous in size, stepped out from the forest. Barton blinked as he gauged the size of the animal that joined it, his mind telling him it was a wolf but his eye insisting it was a nightmare made reality. It was at least ten times the size of him, grey and terrifying. It looked squarely at Barton, who loosed his arrow into the creature's face, directly into its eye. The wolf howled, shaking the ground with unholy noise, and charged. Barton leapt onto the Quinjet and slammed the emergency start button, loosing another arrow as the creature bounded towards him. The plane hovered as the battle robots opened fire, but creature swept them to one side and leapt for the plane. Barton, already in the pilot's seat, steered it away from the animal as it bit down, missing him by inches. It jumped again, clawing at the plane as Barton steadied and flew as high as he could. Quietly, he dialled Pepper and looked down as the animal tore through the robots, howling. He'd been told to inform the other Avengers if he should come across anything that seemed unusual; he figuring running into a wolf the size of a factory was worth at least a phone call. With a sigh, he waited for Pepper to pick up. It looked like the team meeting would be happening here, rather than somewhere that had known a summer's day. As if Barton needed another reason to hate the cold.

* * *

 **Part 5 - done! And with it, I've caught up with what I've previously written for this story, so, excitingly enough, this is going to be new for all of us from now on. Isn't that exciting? I'm excited.** **Some notes:**

 **\- If there are any mistakes here, it's because I had a awesome weekend (you know, you go out for a quiet one and end up stumbling home at 4 in the morning, that kind of weekend) and I'm still pretty rough for it. I'll maybe go back and tweak these chapters, but until then, apologies!**

 **\- I'm deeply into Star Wars again right now - this has nothing to do with anything, I just need to get it off my chest that I love Dark!Luke as much as Sassy!Loki and I unfortunately think I know what my next story is after this is done and dusted.**

 **\- Much of Loki's attitude is based on my own thoughts and feelings (all of the feelings) but he's also been inspired by The Calculator by Katsu on AO3. You've probably already read it, but if you haven't - well, if you like this thing, I guarantee you'll adore her story.**


	16. Part 6a - Get In Zuh Chopper

**I like to think that if Loki were real, he'd totally read fanfiction about himself.**

* * *

If Loki had thought Outgard was cold, it was nothing compared to the atmosphere in the helicopter. Thor stared into the empty seat before him as though he'd lent it money to get itself back onto its feet, and it had just strolled in wearing a brand new Armani coat. Ms Potts twitched her phone in her hand as her eyes darted around the cabin; she seemed completely wired. Loki looked up; the blades chopping overhead did little to ease his mood and lingering headache; in fact, the steady _whumph-whumph-whumph_ tested his very precious patience. He concentrated, and the racket gave way to blessed silence as they were all bathed in a light green glow. Ms Potts started at the lack of noise and Thor grabbed Loki by the neck, his blasted hammer inches from Loki's nose.

"What did you DO?" He yelled, Loki taken aback by his overreaction.

"Force field! It's just a force field around the three of us! Just for us! So we can talk about the plan!" He held up his hands in surrender and Thor sat down, glaring at him.

"A warning would have been courteous, brother," he said and Loki grinned weakly. "When could you conjure force fields? This would have been helpful in the past," He asked, but before Loki could answer, Ms Pott's phone pinged. Her manner snapped back to business mode as she pressed the speaker phone button.

"Clint, can you hear me?" she said, and Loki sat up at Agent Barton's name.

"Loud and clear Pep – I don't know what's going on, but it's some freaky shit that I'm not getting paid enough for."

"Can you please be more specific, Agent Barton? Time is of the essence," Thor intoned.

"Hey, Thor's back! When did you get back, big guy?" Agent Barton asked, happily. Loki rolled his eyes – the man had the attention span of a dull newt.

"That is for another time, Agent Barton – please, the, er, 'freaky shit' that has troubled you."

"Yeah, right. So I'm in a field in Volda, freezing my ass off, and then this massive wolf comes at me and I'm talking _big,_ right? Bigger than the Hulk, right? So I shoot it in the face and it keeps coming at me and I hot tailed out of Dodge." Loki glanced up at Pepper.

"Forgive me Agent Barton, but did you not say that you were in Volda? Where is Dodge?" Thor looked, purposefully missing the elephant in the room.

"Wherever that animal is, big guy. Anyway, Nat, Bruce, Tony and Steve are on their way now, I think we can take it down if we lure it to the harbour here, but it'll be tricky with the civilians running around."

"Clint, get them away as quickly as you can and find cover until the others come. I'm heading back to base now, I can get a clearer view from there and Clint? Try not to destroy everything, okay?"

"Yes m'am," He said, ringing off. Ms Potts put her phone down and looked to Thor, then Loki.

"Giant wolf?" She asked the cabin at large.

"It sounds like Fenrir, the wolf sent at the end of days to kill the King of Asgard and end the Age of the Gods," Thor said, turning his hammer in his hands distractedly. "I must face him alone. It is the only way."

"Oh for the love of - you'll doom us all if you do that!" Loki said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

"Wait, I skipped out on Norse mythology in high school, who's Fenrir?" Ms Potts asked, quickly. Thor took a deep breath.

"In the days of the Viking warrior, there was a book entitled the Poetic Edda..." he began, Ms Potts enraptured.

Loki sat back and picked his left hand absently. He had enjoyed most the Edda and found the imagination of cold, bored Vikings to be diverting, but the actual truth of the matter was that they'd... _expanded_ on certain elements to the point of insanity. For example, he was fairly sure he'd never given birth to a horse and he was certain that there was no way he'd let bloody Odin ride his son like some clapped out donkey. In fact, the Midgardians seemed to think he was creature of fairly loose morals – true, but even Loki had _some_ standards. The thought that he would somehow sire a snake _and_ a wolf _and_ the Queen of Hel _as well as_ have enough time to crank out two Asgardian children was, in Loki's mind, the ancient Norse equivalent of fanfiction.

Their version of Ragnarok was a doozy though; when that blood soaked race of pillaging lunatics imagined the end of the world, they went all out. Gods falling left and right, families destroying each other, his made-up children causing all sorts of mayhem - but Loki bristled at the thought his own uncivilised treatment at the hands of the Viking bards. Finding out that he was to be bound for eternity with one of his made up son's internal organs had hurt his feelings and when Loki's feeling were hurt, people tended to die horribly. Luckily for him, he was on a SHIELD mission at the time, so his enthusiasm gained him a pay raise, rather than a lifetime in bondage. He glanced up from his hand – Ms Potts' eyes had gained a certain glazed quality as Thor detailed yet another brutal murder in a long line of brutal murders. She was a busy woman, she just needed the facts. Loki coughed and Thor faltered.

"Basically, the snake and the wolf are bad and we have to stop them before the planet literally goes up in smoke. _Why_ this is happening is more interesting though – we had a chat with the god of stories, and apparently our destinies aren't working with his plans for us, so he's going to kill us all," summarised Loki.

"Which is why I must fight Fenrir and end this madness, Loki!" Thor cried, raising his hammer. Loki flinched but rallied smoothly.

"No you _don't_ you idiot! _Think._ If Asansi is basing this party on Ragnarok, he's adapting the legend, isn't he? Well, you may have forgotten, but in that version, you didn't have a two super spies, a gamma infested rage monster, the world's first test tube boy scout and a drunk in a shiny suit by your side, did you? The story's changed! And _also_ ," he said before Thor could interrupt again, "You are not the only Thor around anymore. There's a demon with your face and strength that I can lure to Fenrir and hopefully they can finish each other off before things get truly out of hand. Your death will trigger the sequence of events that lead to this planet becoming little more than an historical oddity, so if we can stop that from happening, we ought to be fine."

Ms Potts blinked, and nodded. "What now?" Thor lent forward, mulling over Loki's words.

"You go to base. We will head to Norway. I will hide Thor until the right time and then, well," he looked up at Thor, who was positively bristling with unspent righteous anger. "We unleash the Mighty Thor on anyone who's left to challenge us."


	17. Part 6b - Confusion on the North Sea

**Time to introduce our super friends...**

* * *

"So who's going to stop the snake?" Steve asked for the fourth time and Tony groaned in his Iron man suit. On screen, Bruce sighed and Natasha rolled her eyes.

"For the last time, we don't know. Could be one of us, could be a random guy with a gun and delusions of grandeur," Tony said and not for the first time that trip he wished he'd sank a fifth of Jack before setting off from New York. Pepper's dire warnings about drinking and flying still hung heavily in his mind however – the woman was like Jiminy Cricket with killer legs. Steve tugged on his spangled suit and fiddled with the dashboard of his Quinjet.

"Don't you see though? That means we don't have a plan and we're going up against something that absolutely requires a plan," he said, and Tony noted the good Captain wasn't coming up with any suggestions himself.

"Steve," Natasha said calmly, from her own Jet. "We do have a plan. It's 'Meet up with Clint and wing it'. Barring some details, it's what we've always done and we've been okay until now, haven't we?"

"Besides," Bruce said, from the deck of a fishing boat, "Who knows, maybe Thor'll be back and if anyone knows how to deal with these guys, it's him, right? Does anyone know where Thor is yet?" Natasha flicked her phone on.

"Apparently he's with Pepper – Clint texted about two hours ago. Also the civilians have been cleared and Clint's in Volda harbour... I think. He never did figure out autocorrect." Steve gaped at her from across Europe.

"And you didn't tell us before because...?" Natasha shrugged.

"Your orders were all phones on flight mode, Captain – the phrase 'Safety first' came into it I think?" Before Steve could retort, Tony realised they had buried the lead.

"So Thor's with Pepper? My Pepper? Why didn't she tell me?" Tony checked his messages; no luck. She'd kept him in the dark and she _never_ kept him in the dark. That wasn't her style.

"You think something's up? You know, beyond...?" Bruce waved his fingers, the gesture conveying the strangeness of the imminent fight. Robots and aliens and science experiments, Tony could handle. What he didn't enjoy was the thought his girlfriend had him summon the Avengers, told him to expect company and then leave him out of the loop when it came to details, such as what, who and where the hell they were fighting. He hated being drip fed information, especially from Clint, and now she hadn't told him about Thor? Yeah, Tony figured something was up.

"I've been thinking," Steve said and Tony bit back a snide joke, "That this mission is all wrong. It didn't come from SHIELD command – it wasn't them who I got this jet from, it was JARVIS. We've been sent across the globe to 'Thor Hotspots' and now we're racing to Norway to beat up a wolf? Does anyone else think this is a trap?"

"Yeah, but a trap for who?" Bruce said, the spray of the sea obscuring him partially from view.

"Guys, this is crazy, Pepper wouldn't-" Tony started, but paused. She'd been real distant recently, as if she was playing her cards close to her chest. Plus, she'd kept Thor from her; why would she do that? "I'm calling her now, need some alone time, 'kaythanksbye," he said, then severed his connection with the other three before they could respond. She picked up on the third dial.

"Tony," she said, slightly breathless.

"Hi sweetie, just hanging out over the North Sea and wondering, hey, why am I doing this again?" She looked up and then back to the screen.

"Because I called Movie Night and you trust me," she said, authoritatively.

"Yeah, but I need a little more than that; can I talk to Thor, please?" Her eyes widened, but Tony couldn't tell if it was because he said 'Thor' or 'Please'.

"Tony, I can't tell you, it's... complicated. Just, can you trust me?" She looked desperate.

"Just tell me if Thor's there; wait, where is there anyway? Sounds quiet."

"I er... That's complicated too. Thor is here, but he's talking, he-"

"Wait, who else is there?" Tony interrupted.

"Um..."

"If you say it's complicated, I swear Pep I will not speak to you for a month," Tony snapped.

"And what a devestating loss that would be, I'm sure," said another voice, and Tony's blood ran cold.

"Pepper, what the fu-"

"Gotta go, bye!" She clicked off. Tony redialled – no answer. He brought up Bruce, Steve and Natasha again.

"Any luck?" Natasha asked. Tony was speechless. Of all the bastards in all the universe, Pepper was with _that guy_? That slimy, no good sonufabitch – Thor said he was dead! Do people not know how to stay dead anymore? Why wasn't he still dead?!

"Tony? You look like you're having a stroke, what happened?" Bruce said. Tony worked himself back to words again, fuming as he sped towards the Norwegian fjords. It all made sense now, all slotted into a neat little jigsaw. Thor missing, the Norse symbolism, the giant freaking snake in the sky, it all made sense now!

"Loki," he said, flatly. "Loki has Pepper, he's behind this." Bruce dropped his phone and hastily snatched it up.

"What do we do, boss?" He said.

"We turn around and save Pepper," Steve said and Tony saw him already bank his Jet.

"No! What about Clint?" Natasha said. "He's alone hiding from God-knows-what, we can't leave him!"

"Tony, did Pepper say she had Thor with her?" Bruce said, his voice hard as though he was struggling with his temper.

"Yeah – wait, Thor's with her! If anyone can handle that psychopath it's him," Tony said, grasping for a postive side to his girlfriend being a hostage of the universe's biggest maniac. But then... Why would Loki reveal himself to Tony over the phone if he was actually kidnapping Pepper? Why would Thor go along with it? He had so many questions, and funnily enough, he figured he knew where to find the answers.

"Steve, stay on course. If Loki," and how the name didn't stick in his throat was beyond him, "is behind this, we'll probably get him in Norway, with every other toy that unadulterated jerkoff has thrown out of his pram." He thought about their plan; meet Clint and wing it. And if by winging it meant sinking a few tank missiles into Reindeer Games' face, then that was all the sweeter.

* * *

Thor and Pepper stared at Loki in horror. Loki, for his part, had only just stopped giggling. "What? Oh come on, that was funny." Thor simply smacked him upside his head.

* * *

 **Thus ends part 6. Yeah yeah, it's only two chapters, but they're longer, right? That counts for something, right? And ya know what, we're heading to the climax now! Some notes:**

 **\- Thanks everyone who's followed, favourited and reviewed, you're awesome.**

 **\- The Thor Hotspots were Norway, New Mexico, New York, London and Iceland. I couldn't think of how to get that in here without it dragging, but there you go, extra knowledge in the footnotes. Almost like an end credit stinger, if you will, except this ain't the end credits, not yet anyway.**


	18. Part 7a - I See Fire

**Actual tip for editing action: listen to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, works every time.**

* * *

Tony Stark was the first to touch down in Volda harbour, the snow covered bay littered with the detritus of a lot of people running away very quickly. The quaint fishing village overlooked by a giant mound would have been quite pretty, except for the fact it was engulfed in flames. "JARVIS honey, did everyone make it out?" He said, looking around and not seeing a single boat docked in the harbour.

"Local news reports indicate that the townspeople evactuated in a quick and orderly fashion to Folkstad across the bay after some persuasion from Agent Barton, Sir" Jarvis said, as statistics flashed up on screen, indicating that there were six people within twenty mile radius, whom Tony assumed were himself and the approaching team. He tracked the GPS signal for the person already here and flew towards it.

"And everything's on fire because...?"

"That would be Agent Barton's unique persuasive methods, Sir," JARVIS replied dryly. It figured.

"Bill me when this is over with – I can add it to Clint's tab," Tony said, now circling the harbour wall. By it, he locked onto the agent of this destruction and swooped down as two Quinjets honed in on his position. He flipped up his helmet as Clint stood to greet him from his rocky cover next to the wall.

"Nice going, Katniss, I love the subtlety," he said as he touched down. Clint shrugged.

"Hey, I'm just a man with a flamethrowing Jet and creative freedom; I see it more as a celebration of renovation." Tony rolled his eyes as the Jets touched down and Steve, Bruce and Natasha joined them. Bruce looked slightly ill.

"Looking good, B-Man, feeling sea sick?" Clint asked as he ordered the arrows in his quiver. Bruce just shook his head.

"The boat was fine, but things started getting hairy when Nat picked me up near Bergen," he said, swaying slightly.

"Oh come on, granddad, I was barely at Mac speed, it wasn't too bad," Natasha said dryly. "So, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, reduced to pest control. Anyone else feeling undervalued?"

"Well, considering our plan, maybe not," Steve said, and Tony noted the sour tone in his voice. "'Meet Clint' has been a roaring success, good job team. Clint, what happened here, can you tell us more about this wolf?" Clint looked back over the rock.

"It followed my Jet – I figured that if it was under me, it wouldn't get anywhere fast. I cleared the area and lured it into the town, but I lost it in the fire. I guess it's too much to ask that it burned alive, right?"

"Probably," said Tony as stood and scoped the area. He squinted as he looked to the top of the mound and flipped his visor down to get a better look. "JARVIS, you said no one was here except for us, who the hell is that?" There was a man, standing still, holding a harp. He couldn't tell if it was a trick of perspective, but whoever he was, he looked _big_.

"He does not appear on any of my scanners, sir," JARVIS said. Natasha stood and peered to where Tony was looking.

"Tony, what's-" But she was drowned out when the man plucked a single harp string and the note reverberated across the bay. They jumped up and Tony span around, facing the burning wreckage of the town. Out of the fire flew three giant roosters, crowing at the sound. The man plucked another string and one rooster flew to the top of the mound, settled on his shoulder and crowed again. Natasha gasped, and Tony could almost see the cogs in her mind whir.

"On a hill there sat, and smote on his harp, Eggther the joyous, the giants' warder; Above him the cock in the bird-wood crowed, Fair and red did Fjalar stand," she quoted, her eyes wide in recognition.

"Natasha? What's going on?" Bruce asked over the cacophony of the harp and roosters.

"I think someone's decided to play Norse Myth and Legends with us," she said as she loaded her gun. "And Tony, I think you know who's behind this." _Loki_. Only that crackpot would be so dramatic. He felt, rather than heard, a low grumbling roar as the harp and roosters were suddenly silent. He looked on as Clint's monster wolf stumbled out of the fire and roared at the mound. It was _enormous_. Tony was strangely unworried though; it was just an animal, and animals tended to not survive a uni-beam to the face. He powered up and zoomed overhead, the warning shouts of his team falling on deaf ears. He targeted the wolf and shot it from his chest – direct hit. He smirked.

"See, who needs a pla _oh shi_ -" he yelped as the wolf jumped up and nearly snapped his leg off.

"Nice going, Tin Man!" Clint yelled over the commlink. Tony moved higher, shooting the wolf with everything he had.

"Will you knock it off, you're just making it angrier!" Steve shouted as the wolf howled under the barrage Tony unloaded onto it. He'd barely scratched it. He flew behind it and tried again, firing two tank missiles at it. The wolf shook its massive head and caught sight of the four other Avengers, now stood in front of the rock. It snarled and charged them. Steve readied his shield as the other three split, Clint loosed two arrows at once at its left eye while Natasha sprinted towards its right, shooting at its paw. The wolf howled again and Steve threw his shield into its open mouth. It bounced back – it had only chipped a fang.

"Bruce we could use some help here!" Tony bellowed as the wolf bore down on Steve. Steve rolled away and sprinted toward Clint but the wolf turned and chased him. Tony zoomed down to put another missile in its ugly maw, but was repulsed by a green haze that blocked him from his target. "What the-" he started, but saw a man materialise within the circle of green, stood with his arms stretched out towards the animal. A man who wore green and black leather with long black hair.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," moaned Clint.

* * *

Loki concentrated harder than he ever had done in his life. He'd already shrugged off the shroud that cloaked him from the unwanted eyes, so he knew he was visible to the damned demon, but he couldn't relinquish the force field until the Avengers were out of harm's way. Also, Fenrir, destroyer of Odin, was smashing itself into his defensive shield, which complicated matters. He had a brilliant thought and grinned. In a snap of a synapse, he waved away his shield and drew it around Fenrir, who had moved to bite him in half but instead crashed into the wall of Loki's shield.

Loki couldn't help laughing at the dumb look of surprise on its face, a sonic boom his only warning that he should protect himself. Before he could think, he was slammed in the back, launched forward as the shield disappeared. He scrambled to his feet as Fenrir howled – slightly dazed, he saw Thor stand over him, malice in his eyes as Fenrir went to eat Thor whole. Thor roared, leapt out of the way and punched Fenrir on the tip of its snout. Loki readied a knife and shook his head clear; he saw his chance as Thor ducked under Fenrir and punched it again beneath its jaw. He launched himself at Thor, only to have his jaw connect with a blur of red white and blue. _Ah rats_ , he thought as he jerked backwards.

* * *

Tony had been shocked into inaction as he saw Loki protect them, Thor fly down and throw him out of the way and Loki fly towards Thor. Only when Steve had thrown his shield did he remember what he was supposed to be doing. He flew above the wolf again, distracted as it was by the brawl happening under its nose. He saw the soft folds of fur between its shoulders and head and had an idea. "Clint, Nat, can you get a good shot in if I get you both up here?"

"What about Loki?" Natasha said, running for cover.

"I think Steve and Thor's got him covered, Red," Clint said, already a safe enough distance from the fight. "Damn, I forgot he could do that," He said as Tony looked down.

Loki had stood again and had cloned himself hundreds of times, the beach surrounding the area around Thor, Steve and the wolf. It shook its head and swiped at the clones, all cackling like madmen. Tony saw one close to Thor hold up a knife and he shot a repulsor ray directly at his hand. Loki screamed and the clones disappeared, Steve stood by Thor as Fenrir moved to stamp on both of them. Loki blasted a force field over the both of them – _who's side is he on, anyway_?

Tony swooped towards Natasha and Clint as he heard Loki yell over Steve's commlink, "Captain, move!" Steve barely shifted away from Thor's punch, and Tony heard Steve shout in surprise as Thor rounded on him. Loki let the force field go and the wolf growled, its eyes squarely on Thor. It went for the kill and Tony saw a green blur rush toward it.

Instead of biting down on Thor, the wolf had its mouth full of the Hulk's fist. With a roar, the Big Guy grabbed its two of its fangs and heaved it onto its side. Tony snatched up Clint and Natasha and circled over the wolf. It whimpered as the Big Guy grabbed its nose and threw it to the ground again. Landing on its shoulders, Tony dropped the two agents as they drew their weapons.

"Now!" He screamed, and Natasha unloaded her clip as Clint loosed three arrows at point blank range into its head. The wolf screamed in agony as Tony shot his remaining tank missile in between its eyes. "Hulk, smash!" He bellowed and the Big Guy jumped and punched the wolf with both fists. The wolf whined one last time and closed its eyes. Natasha and Clint leapt off its back and Tony touched down in front of it. He sighed with relief and went to pat Thor on back, but recoiled as he snarled and marched toward Loki.

Tony suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.


	19. Part 7b - Gods and Demons

**What, you thought that was it?**

* * *

Loki blinked, saw the dead Fenrir and just about unveiled his brother when the demon backhanded him to his knees. He saw Tony Stark, startled, move to stop him when the demon grabbed him, held him close enough so Loki could see its too neat beard and too mean eyes clearly. "You wretched fool!" The demon screamed, and Loki couldn't help the fit of giggles that had overcome him. "You're insignificant meddling will not stop your inevitable doom!" Loki's giggles turned into outright laughter. The demon faltered; clearly, this was not the reaction it had expected. "What is the meaning of this?" It shouted.

"Your... eheheheh... Your face in two seconds will be _hilarious_ ," he gasped, breathless.

"What?" The demon said, as a boom of thunder and a hammer smashed his grip from Loki's neck. It dropped Loki as it whirled around, the real Thor calling Mjolnir back as he pounced onto the demon, swinging his hammer into the demon's stolen face.

"Reveal yourself, monster! Captain Rodgers, stand back or so help me, you're next!" Thor shouted. The demon choked and screamed as Thor grabbed its skin and pulled. He sat back, horrified. Underneath the purloined visage, the demon's true face was revealed; a maggot infested skull with eyes burning with the same intense fire as which burned the town behind them to the ground. Thor and the Avengers backed away as the demon, who Loki had sworn had been relegated to the lowest dungeons of Hel, stood. In appalled wonder, Loki took a step toward it.

"Abaddon," he whispered.

"T'is I!" It shrieked at Thor. "I, who stole your strength and body! I, who will rain fire and blood on this lowly Realm! None can match the strength of thunder with the evil of Hel! Witness my power!" Loki wrinkled his nose, and was thoroughly grossed out when it began to actually rain blood over the bay. The snake wrapped around the world grew in size and Loki knew that if they didn't act now, end Abaddon, all hope would be lost.

"You're wrong, demon!" He yelled, drawing on the ice magic which laced his veins. "In your quest for power, you ignored the true strength of Thor! Brother, NOW!" Thor pulled thunder from the sky in Mjolnir and aimed it at Abaddon's chest. Loki threw rivers of green magic into the lightning bolt, their magic combined to blast Abaddon off its feet. It wheezed and stood again.

"You puny gods, your Age has ended! So begins the Age of Abaddon!" He shrieked again, but Loki saw the Hulk, tired of this nonsense, run towards it. With a bellow, the Hulk grabbed the demon, lifted him above his head and ripped him in half with one roar.

"Puny demon," he muttered, and Loki would swear on his grave that the green monster _winked_ at him.

* * *

The snake had seen the comet and waited. The world beneath it remained intact. Its patience ended, its hunger irrational, the snake moved to devour its prey but felt a twist and tear. The fabric of reality that had allowed its presence was fading away to nothing and the snake writhed in agony. It was so close! It needed to taste it; it had waited its entire life for this moment! It twisted once, and left the universe with a single, infuriated hiss.

* * *

Tony decided that it was only then that things got weird. The sky turned blood red as the green band above them hissed and vanished; the rains of blood stopped falling as the three roosters flapped and cawed in dismay when the man on the mound melted away. The earth shook and Tony saw the bay rock and empty. Then, a tsunami swelled and rushed toward them. "Aw, come _on_! Thor, grab Nat and get to high ground!" He shouted as he reached for Clint and Steve.

"Wait! Stay where you are!" cried Loki, and Tony wanted to break his neck, but he was shouting to Thor. Loki's face was grim as he held out one hand and blasted the wall of water with ice. Thor roared as Loki staggered back, his hand turning blue as he screamed. His face twisted and changed and Tony saw his eyes turn red and face change and grow markings. He turned back to the water – it was a wall of ice. Thor span his hammer and thunder rumbled above them. Lightning crashed down on the frozen wave and it shattered over them. Steve and Tony pulled Natasha and Clint to safety as the Big Guy covered them from the falling ice. Tony turned and saw Thor crouched over Loki, who had raised a force field over them both. As soon as it had started, the icy deluge was over. Natasha sighed with relief as Clint cheered. They had won.

* * *

Thor opened an eye when the noise of falling ice had stopped. A green haze flickered around him as he looked down to Loki in his arms. He'd never seen his brother in all his Frost Giant glory; he decided he wore it well. "Loki? Loki you can let go, it's over," he said kindly, as his brother's unfocused gaze fell onto him and the green haze dissipated. He huff with laughter.

"Well that was fun," he croaked, and then winced as his battle wounds caught up with him. Thor placed his hand on his brother's side, and felt it to be softer than it should be. An ugly bruise marked his jaw and his hand was broken and scorched.

"What is this?" He asked, holding his hand gently.

"A gift from your egomaniac in a suit over there," he said weakly and made to stand up, then obviously thought against it as he sank down into Thor's arms. Thor looked up as his teammates walked cautiously toward them. Loki shuddered and a faint golden shimmer washed over him, but his appearance did not change. He frowned, and Thor could almost hear his brother's magic splutter and fail him. "I think I may have overdone it a tad," he said, softly. Thor grinned.

"Perhaps it would be easier if I helped you, brother," Thor said and placed an arm under his shoulders. Together, they stood, Loki for once accepting Thor's help. The Avengers surrounded them, but Thor noticed that not one of them had drawn a weapon on his brother, though Agent Barton looked twitchy.

"I think I'm speaking for everyone when I ask what the heck that was all about?" Steve said eventually.

"Yeah, and what's with the blue?" Agent Barton added, brazenly. Loki shifted uncomfortably and Natasha slapped Agent Barton's arm.

"It's... haha... It's a long story," Loki said, finally.

* * *

Far above them, Heimdall smiled. He'd seen Loki's fight - the disgraced Prince was difficult to miss, as he blazed a path of light from his hiding place straight to the Watcher's eye. He'd seen and he had known his soul. Loki was no longer a threat to Asgard, nor Midgard, nor any of the other Realms that once feared him. He would watch, certainly, but for all the creatures in the universe who brayed for Loki's blood. Heimdall would watch and care for his former friend.

It was good to have him back.

* * *

 **Seems like a good place to wrap this up, thanks to everyone who reviewed and favourited... ahahaha, just kidding you crazy kids, hang tight for the final part of this story, coming soon to a device near you!**


	20. Happy Ending

**Once more into the breach my friends, once more...**

* * *

Three weeks. It had been three weeks since the Fire of Volda, as the press had taken to call it. Three weeks since he had blown his cover to the Avengers and was dismissed as a SHIELD covert agent. Three weeks since Fury had asked him which part of 'Don't involve the Avengers' he hadn't grasped.

Three weeks since he had been able to change from his monstrous Frost Giant appearance. Three weeks since he'd been able to stand the sun. Three weeks since he'd locked himself in his Parisian apartment and smashed all the mirrors, scared to see himself.

Three weeks since he'd started this almighty sulk.

Loki fiddled with his paltry dinner, not feeling very hungry. If he could just _change_ , he would be able to go outside again, stand the sun once more, but he still felt fried and exhausted from his ordeal in Volda. He hadn't understood at first; he'd worn out his magic before and he'd not become utterly unsightly then. He had to laugh when he realised that his Asgardian glamour was a product of bloody Odin. No Odin, no glamour without his own magic, no nice dinners in pleasant restaurants. It had been the first time Loki felt like a true orphan.

He sighed and tossed his untouched food in the bin – that was another thing, he'd discovered he couldn't cook worth a damn without magic and had frequently been reduced to eating the ice in his freezer for any kind of comfort. He was about to call it another wasted day when he heard a rustle come from his bedroom. He grabbed his baseball bat with his good hand and stalked toward the bedroom. Cautiously, he pushed open the door; nothing. Whoever it was, they had picked the wrong day to play silly buggers. He turned to check the rest of his apartment –

"Hello, Loki."

\- And promptly jumped out of his skin. Stood before him in his living room was none other than Anansi, yellow smile smeared across his back. It was funny though; on Outgard, he had only felt fear and panic. Here, under the cool light of his table lamp, Anansi didn't look half as threatening. His claws scratched at Loki's oak floorboards as Loki carefully put his bat down and crossed his arms, his back to his open bedroom door.

"You're a real bastard, you know?" He said, at which Anansi laughed. Again, on Outgard it was a terrible noise, ringing out the death of everything he held dear, but now... Well, it was actually rather nice.

"I can be, certainly. Shall we sit?" Loki decided to not take offence at being offered a seat in his own apartment and took the farthest sofa, where he'd spent most of his time recently. "You know," Anansi said as he climbed Loki's wall and dangled from a single thread, "There are many stories, many paths you could have chosen. The thing about the path you took, that everyone took with you, was that you could have left at anytime, and yet you didn't." Loki shifted, mindful of his still cracked ribs.

"And leave this place to be destroyed on a whim? Leave myself to settle in a Realm without Spotify? No thanks," he said as he picked at a stray cushion thread. Anansi laughed again.

"Come now Loki, we both know that Spotify isn't the only reason you chose to intervene. Think hard."

Loki considered the spider. It wasn't just his apartment, music and food it was... Well, it was the freedom to decorate without the Royal Architect throwing a hissy fit because Loki wanted to _change things_. It was the ability to listen to anything he wanted without worrying what people would think of their Prince singing along to Blank Space. It was the flavour and delicacy of his favourite food, cooked to perfection rather than roasted to incineration.

It was the wonder he had sometimes felt on missions as he beheld breathtaking beauty in the most desolate of places. It was the time he had caught Thor on a news report, with his friends and his Jane, happy and carefree. It was the feel of rain on his skin, the sense of true freedom. It was a feeling he hadn't experienced since he had been younger, since he had woken up with Thor by his side after fighting the gathering shadow of death. It was...

It was comfort. It was home.

And yet, when he had felt most at ease, there was a cruel voice whispering that he deserved more, he should take what he could grab, that he didn't deserve contentment until everyone who he had perceived to wrong him was dead at his feet. The apartment seemed barren, food turned to ashes, music was atonal nonsense and Thor became his mortal enemy. His mad desire to have everything, and destroy that too, would overwhelm him, and those times were bleak and hard.

Anansi nodded, as though he'd read Loki's troubled mind. He stood and walked to spider god, gingerly holding up his arms. "Do you mind? I can't reach it myself." Anansi nodded again, and shifting the universe around Loki, stretched into his endless space, pulled out three orbs and handed them to Loki. He beheld the most evil parts of his soul; where Thor had been pure starlight, he was blacker than the darkest night and it reminded him of a terrible life, when he had harboured these thoughts of hatred, jealousy and selfishness with pride.

"I've held onto these for years," he said, trying to justify himself. "I ripped them from my own head and hoped I could stop what I had become... It helped, slightly. The voices telling me to obliterate everything had stopped roaring at me and merely whispered in the night. I listened when it suited, but they always..." Loki swallowed, and stared into the black, levitating orbs. "They always seemed more in control than I did." Anansi held out a claw, and Loki handed him the orbs. He blinked – he felt lighter, lighter than air. He looked at his broken hand; already it had began to heal. He laughed and rubbed his eyes as Anansi smiled. "Before you go," he said, just as Anansi began to fade away, "Were you working with Abaddon?"

"Hmm? Oh, oh good grief no. That creature had been a pain in my backside since the day he was made," Anansi said and Loki laughed.

"So you-"

"Played him like an upright bass, yes. Don't worry, there was never any real danger to you or your new friends, the story wouldn't allow for it," he said with a final smile. Loki waved and found himself alone again. Feeling better than he had in a long time, he went to bed.

Delightfully, it had started to rain.

* * *

The End.

 **That's all folks! It's finished! This is beyond novel for me; feels good. Any thoughts or comments, do please let me know, it's been a pleasure writing for you and I hope you enjoyed it, I certainly enjoyed writing this.**

 **Catch ya later!**


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